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Welcome to August fellow Constant Readers! We're well on our way to completing this year's BooksandLala's Buzzwordathon and this month is no exception. For August the buzzword is "body parts" meaning the title has to include some kind of body part. We decided to go with another short story again this month, this time from 1985's Skeleton Crew. That's right, for August we are reading "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands"!

"The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands" is, like I mentioned in King's 1985 short story collection Skeleton Crew. However, it was originally published, like many of his other short stories, prior to this collection. Originally it served as the opening story in a Doubleday horror anthology edited by Charles L. Grant titled "Shadows 4" in 1982.

The general synopsis of the story follows an elderly man named George Gregson who tells the story of a bizarre card game he played years before wherein he met one Henry Brower. During the course of the card game Henry refuses to touch anyone, recoiling in fear if anyone gets near him. He believes to be cursed to cause harm to anyone he comes in physical contact with, and the story goes from there. I don't want to give too much away with it only being a short story. I couldn't find out if Henry Brower was in any way related to Ray Brower from his novella "The Body" in 1982's Different Seasons, but we all know there's no coincidences with King.

So far from what I could find online, there was a short that was made in 2009 directed by Ian Klink. More than likely one of Stephen King's "Dollar Babies" as in, a student film. It's not available for streaming anywhere. Also according to some resources a movie is in development with Capital B Films with principal photography starting in June of 2022. It was adapted by Nicholas Bromund, who also directs, and was co-written by Guthrie Roy Hartford. No further information can be found.

I'm super excited to read this because Skeleton Crew is definitely one of King's short story collections that I've been super eager to try out. I love 80's King. Who else is happy to keep this year of readalongs chugging along? I know, I'm lame lol. Chime off down below!

It's almost the end of August and I'm still not able to read as much as I'm used to. I can't wait to be done with school (one more year) and I can dedicate more time to reading. I remember reading Skeleton Crew back in high school, but I have to say, I don't remember this story. Looking forward to reading it before the month is over.

Thank you Ashley for being my ride or die and helping as always with this group.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Hugs and happy reading!

It’s been a long but fast month. Working full time now at the local library and even tho we are allowed to read at work it’s been busy . I’m not even sure I’ve finished a whole book this month lol still trying tho :) almost September! I’m ready for cold weather south Ga has been so hot ! Hope all is well with y’all 😉

Chelley wrote: "It’s been a long but fast month. Working full time now at the local library and even tho we are allowed to read at work it’s been busy . I’m not even sure I’ve finished a whole book this month lol ..."

Working at a library sounds like a dream. I just got hired as an SAI math teacher at a high school. Algebra 1 is already hard for me. Teach it to students with special needs?!? WOW these past two weeks have been a doozy. I hope you get that cold weather. Its been hot here in San Diego as well.